Background information

Businesses and households face increasing costs of fuel. In response to the rising fuel prices, the government decided to intervene to lessen the impact. The government enacted a temporary measure to deal with the increase in fuel prices.

Legal reference: Draft royal decree temporarily amending Article 419(b), (c), (e)(i) and (f)(i), Article 420(3) and Article 429(5)(1) of the Programme Law of 27 December 2004.

Content of measure

There is a price ceiling for petroleum products in Belgium. The Federal Public Service Economy calculates the price ceiling on a daily basis. This is established in a programme agreement between the Belgian government and the petroleum sector.

The calculation formulas are designed to pass on the various costs of the production and supply chain and to protect consumers from price fluctuations.

Given extraordinary price increases during the past few months, the Belgian federal government reduced the excise duty on petrol and diesel to €144.6282 per 1,000 litres. This amounts to a discount of €0.175 per litres at the pump. The size of the discount depends on fluctuations in the international market and the application of the VAT rate.

The government also implemented a system called the "regular click system." This system increases prices if they fall below €1.7 per litres. When this occurs, the excise duty rate will be increased once again with the aim of gradually bringing price levels back to the level of 1 January 2022.

Use of measure

The measure applies to all fuel prices and is applied automatically and directly.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Applies to all businesses	Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

Not mentioned.

Views and reactions

Not mentioned.

Sources

• 02 June 2022: Accijnsverlagingen om de stijging van de brandstofprijzen voor het wegvervoer af te remmen (economie.fgov.be)